OPINION: New Mexico Children's Code must be changed in future legislative sessions

In Bernalillo County, we have had 46 juveniles charged with first-degree murder since Jan. 1, 2023. Read that again: FORTY-SIX juveniles charged with MURDER in a little over two years! And it’s not just a problem in Bernalillo County. With social media and easy access to guns, violent juvenile crime is dramatically increasing in our state and nation.

The people who wrote the April 27 editorial “Using adolescent treatment center key to addressing juvenile crime,” suggested that teens convicted of murder should be placed in a facility known as the Sequoyah Adolescent Treatment Center. The authors fail to provide information about Sequoyah to support their position that it is the answer for serious violent offenders. There is no argument Sequoyah is beneficial for a number of young people, but it’s a program that is designed for treatment — anywhere between 90 days to nine months. It’s not for serious violent offenders. Do you think a teen who killed or violently raped someone can be rehabilitated in nine months then put right back out on the streets?

There is also no solution provided by the authors for those juveniles who act violently within the Sequoyah facility and get discharged, because it’s not set up to handle violent juveniles. Are we to accept that they might be released back into the community because Sequoyah couldn’t adequately address their needs? Their argument seems to imply that these young people can be rehabilitated and become well-functioning adults by the age of 21, which is the maximum amount of time under current New Mexico law.

We’ve had these resources for more than 20 years — and we’re worse off now than we were when the Children’s Code was enacted decades ago.

Excusing violent acts due to underdeveloped brains oversimplifies the issue. These juveniles often engage in careful planning, not impulsive behavior. Many of their crimes involve firearms — something they cannot legally possess. They actively seek out guns, often through social media, negotiate prices, arrange meetups and travel to acquire them. After obtaining the weapon — assuming their intent isn’t to rob the seller — they take it to another location to commit their next crime. This is not impulsive; it’s sophisticated, premeditated planning — just like an adult.

No one, especially me as the Bernalillo County district attorney, wants to simply follow the path of locking a child up and throwing away the key. However, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can provide serious resources for rehabilitation and preventative measures for juveniles. But at the same time, we have to build in consequences for the most violent offenders out there.

While juvenile brains may still be developing, there’s a basic lesson parents teach their children from toddlerhood: if you do something wrong, there are consequences. This principle was never questioned when disciplining a 5-year-old who hits another child. So why, when a juvenile commits a violent crime, are we expected to disregard consequences and hope that leniency will somehow change their future behavior?

The landscape of the U.S. is drastically different now compared to what it was decades ago when the last revisions of the Children’s Code were made. Back then, juveniles were shoplifting and committing other low-level property crimes. Did juveniles have to worry about other kids taking guns to school decades ago? No. Did students have to be concerned about mass shootings that interrupted their learning environment? No. Since Columbine in 1999 — and especially after COVID-19 — juveniles have been taking firearms to school, shooting houses and buildings, robbing citizens and killing others in record numbers.

The question is: Are you happy with the way things are now? If the answer is no, that’s because a change is needed in the Children’s Code to address these violent juvenile offenders.